Carnival Chaos
by FrankLenRIP
Summary: The gang's at Catastrophe! Frank and Len are teaming up with Skelly-T and his skeleton crew to create a song with a mix of rock and jazz for a competition there. Question is, do rock and jazz go together? While they are working on their tune, Ruby gets Misery to help her not to look sick in front of Skull Boy, so that they can take photos of the carnival.
1. Chapter 1

**_Carnival Chaos_**

**AN: Hi everyone!**

***hears faint growling***

**Er... yeah... about my long absence... my teachers are crazy. Blame them. They teach us a new topic just two days BEFORE the exams! I love every single subject (except D and T, I nearly killed myself once just by being near the machine you use to drill a hole) but I HATE the teachers. But don't worry, I'm gonna try me best. I will do my best.**

**Ok, you can read the story now! And click that review button to help me improve. It's very easy to click on it. No side-effects. You can flame but please try to be reasonable and polite! :D**

* * *

"No..." She sighed as another script went straight to the dustbin.

"Ce n'est pas... AHHH!" The writer wailed, and a bat timidly came to her side.

(She said, 'This is not... AHHH!')

"Venus? What is it?" He gulped as he handed her a handkerchief with the letter 'V' engraved on it.

"Oh, Monsieur Bat! It's a calamity, a disaster... I need to come up with the best script ever on teamwork and I can't think of any!"

"Oh my, that is horrible. But I think I can help you, if you don't mind, please."

"Go ahead. I need some fertilizer anyway."

"Well, why don't you do a script based on the day we went to Catastrophe...?"

The moment he reminded her of the incident, Venus was rolling on the floor laughing and as Scaredy was wiping tears of hilarity off of her typewriter with her forgotten handkerchief, she started reminiscing about the day they went to Catastrophe.

* * *

They arrived there after a long and tiring coach journey.

"Yes! Catastrophe, here we are! Well, at least the hotel near Catastrophe!" Iris whooped as she rushed into the hotel.

Mr Mumbles and Ruby briefly shared a laugh as they watched Iris play with the spinning door.

**(What do you call that door? You know, the one that spins?) **

"Thanks again Mr Mumbles, we're ecstatic to be here!" Ruby chirped as she helped Mr Mumbles unload his suitcase.

"No problem. I needed some school reporters to write about this place anyway. You and Skull Boy will be perfect for the job! I'll try to help you carry all that heavy luggage..." He said until he saw Skull Boy, a skeleton with only bones, casually carrying a bag that was ten times heavier than him.

The skeleton was whistling a merry tune as he unloaded all the huge cameras and took some photos before putting the equipment into his bag.

"Ok, I've taken some photos of the entrance. I'll show you them later, during dinner." He told a shocked and speechless Mr Mumbles.

The only action coming from Mr Mumbles was his pet frog croaking. The young skeleton took that as a sign of approval and grinned,

"Great! It's a good thing that I'm related to a long line of wrestlers. Hard to believe since I exercise so much, yet I cannot build up muscles that don't exist. Maybe it's cus' I drink a lot of milk, increases calcium, you know?"

...

"Well, let me help you by getting your bag..." Ruby said until she grabbed his rather small bag and grunted.

It seemed to be bringing her down to the ground. At Ruby's sharp intake of breath, Skull Boy immediately dropped the rest of their luggage before easily slinging the tiny bag over his shoulders.

"I'm so sorry Ruby. I guess that I should have warned you that it might be kinda heavy, I brought along two 50-pound dumbbells. I'm supposed to lift them over my head 500 times according to the greatest wrestler in the world, Zápasník. He drew up this exercise chart. Pretty cool, huh?" Skull Boy explained as he pulled a rolled-up poster from his pocket.

He unrolled the poster which covered a huge portion of the ground and held it in front of Ruby.

**(Zápasník means 'Wrestler' in Czech... right? Anyway, this guy is not real, I think. I just can't choose a wrestler.)**

"Zápasník used to be my great, great, great, great, great grandmother's friend's cousin's mailman until he became a wrestler. He invited some of my family members to watch his first match." Misery added as she accidentally got herself tangled up in Skull Boy's long poster when she tripped over it.

Thankfully, it wasn't torn and Misery seemed alright. While Ruby and Skull Boy worked on freeing Misery, the skeleton asked Misery,

"Then you know how fantastic he is, right?!"

Trying her best not to show her apathy in wrestling, she replied as they finally untangled her,

"My ancestors kept cheering him on until the day an opponent punched him so hard in the nose, he lost his memory."

"Oh. Yeah." He sighed as they approached the hotel.

"Hey, I don't see Doom, Poe, Scaredy or Frank and Len." Ruby noted.

"We're here!" The conjoined brothers exclaimed as they capped off their entrance with a guitar solo.

"And Poe's right behind us, along with Doom and Scaredy."

"We just stopped for a while to join this competition." Frank announced as he unrolled a poster. While it was definitely shorter than Skull Boy's poster, by a few meters or so, the skeleton was shocked,

"Wow, that is one huge poster." He said without any trace of irony as helped Doom and Scaredy carry their luggages.

"Attention all bands with crazy talent: Show that you're the best at the Catastrophe Crazy Talent Competition! The grand prize includes a recording deal with Horrorwood Jams and the chance to become as famous as Terror Swift, Justin Barfer, Paranormal, and Eerie. Double points for creativity!" Poe finished, exhaling loudly.

"That's great you guys! RIP has never participated in a competition before. This your chance to show how good you guys are against 1000 bands!" Ruby noted excitedly.

"We know! We're gonna work on a song right now!" Frank declared until Len shook his head furiously.

"Not now, unless you really wanna miss the new roller-coaster Mr Mumbles created..."

And he did not have to elaborate any further as Frank hurridly fragged their suitcase towards the receptionist area. As soon as she was certain no one was near them, she bent down to Poe's level.

"Thanks for the cough mixture, Poe." Ruby whispered as she quickly snatched the bottle from Poe's wings.

"You're welcome but Ruby, do you really think it's wise since you're... mfff?!" Poe was interrupted when Ruby placed a finger on Poe's beak.

"Shh... Mr Mumbles is counting on me... so is Skull Boy. I can't disappoint them. Besides, it's just a cold, and I have a guidebook written by Misery herself." Ruby coughed slightly as she 'answered' Poe.

"You coming, Ruby?" Frank hollered.

Ruby whipped around to see Skull Boy taking photos of every nook and cranny of the hotel.

"Yes. Of course!" Ruby chirped as she sniffled a tiny sneeze.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Carnival**_** _Chaos_**

**AN: OMG! I HAVEN'T UPDATED FOREVER! I _HATE THE _**_NON-HOLIDAY-DAYS! _

**I just sounded like a mad person, didn't I?**

**I'm going, please review and help me improve, in writing and mental stability.**

* * *

As amazing as the hotel looked from the outside, it was even better on the inside.

They had two rooms, one for the girls, the other, boys. The first room they explored was the girl's room. It had the most immense bed they had ever seen, placed on a high dais in the center of the room and bedecked in crimson silk and gold embroidered quilts of the same brilliant scarlet. Two ruby-red couches flanked its sides.

"Wow!" Skull Boy uttered in amazement, circling the room with the childish need to touch everything. He glided his fingers over the various furnishings, admiring the glossy surface of the ornate pieces and then, without warning, Iris pitched herself into the center of the bed with an exuberant whoop. Much to Frank and Len's pleasure, a mini-fridge, which was packed with free food, sat across from bed and beneath a massive flat screen LCD 3D TV.

"This... is... the life!"

Even better for Skull Boy and Ruby, there was a type-writer seated on the desk facing the tinted French windows.

"Perfect! We can already prepare our drafts then!"

"Yup, that means there is only one thing left..."

"Trochu se pobavit, všichni!" Skull Boy cheered until he realized that everyone was looking at him weirdly. One of Doom's eye was even bulging. Luckily, Iris cleared the tension by rushing to the door and slapping a cap on her head,

"If that means fun, then I'm all for it!"

"If it doesn't?" Len wondered aloud.

Before Skull Boy could even explain what he had said earlier on, Iris just shrugged her shoulders and grabbed a bowl of salad from the fridge, stomping towards the bed before plopping herself on it.

"Fine, Mr Scrooge Skulls! I'll eat my favorite dish in the world, WITHOUT FUN!" She huffed as she speared a cherry tomato sitting atop her salad with gusto, imagining it as Skull Boy's skull before shoving it into her mouth. Split seconds later, she found herself gagging,

"I was wondering why Iris suddenly liked vegetables." Misery said flatly as Ruby and Doom rushed to help Iris to the bathroom.

* * *

After cleaning up Iris, checking out the boys' room and enjoying the free 'anti-salad' lunch from the fridge, they had much energy to spend. Ruby had retrieved a sketch plan of the amusement complex-it had two sections, indoors and outdoors. They decided to explore the outdoor attractions first, since they could go to the indoor rides anytime. Unfortunately, Scaredy had decided to 'accompany' Doom to the Kitty Spa nearby. The sassy kitty had rolled her eyes but said nothing, not even a violin chord as Scaredy helped her carry her 'priming' bag. After waving farewell to the bat and cat, the gang, minus two, went through their plans.

Firstly, they had to consider the question of money to finance their quest to taste the food of the amusement park, since Ruby knew that her father was very busy settling some matters in Doomsville. After much hard work and RIP's huge paycheck from their latest album, they managed to get $80 for the entire day. The rest was put aside for the rest of the days and future use.

Eyes wide and round like soccer balls, they held their breath as they entered Catastrophe and wandered around the park spellbound, savoring the magic of the amusement park, striving to absorb as much of the sights and sounds as their small frames would. It was as though they had wondered into another dimension of the world, just like Alice's Wonderland. Soon, they felt as if they were led by an invisible hook, pulling them around the theme park.

They suddenly felt like a bee encased in a box with ten different types of honey, having a hard time deciding which ride to go on.

Noticing just a slight queue, they made a dash for the choo-choo train ride, except for Poe whose face was suddenly as pale as Ruby's.

"That is too childish for a gentleman like me!" He scorned.

Later on however, he was regretting his decision as he followed the train, a bucket of popcorn tucked under his wings. The ride's path went round the outdoor park and the gang could have an overview of the park's attractions. Having made a round of the park, they headed for their desired destinations. Iris had dragged them to the 'Giant Octopus' ride. They had to wait a while because of the long line and Poe's slowness.

This was a contraption which had box-like seats at the end of its tentacle-like arms. They got themselves securely strapped, their eyebrows slightly arching when the ride attendants gave each of then some packets filled with colored dust. Then, without warning, they felt themselves being lifted by its arms to a height of about 20 meters. They had a birds-eye view of the park, including the dark, bobbing heads of the jostling crowd below. Then, they were swinging around and just when Frank was feeling dizzy, something hit him and left a mark on his cheek.

A PINK mark on his cheek.

Iris was giggling uncontrollably until she felt yellow dust covering her entire dress. She gasped before growling at the chuckling conjoined twins.

With a strong arm, she launched a second attack and the blue dust completely covered... Misery and Poe, who was perched on the unlucky girl's shoulder.

"Well, at least it's not acidic." She cheered until another bag of dust landed on her head. Poe's eyes twitched before trying to 'attack' a giggling Ruby's 'territory'.

Unfortunately, he missed and Skull Boy was the next victim. The skeleton smirked slightly as he successfully hit everybody thanks to his fast (and detachable) limbs.

Finally, the Octopus 'sighed' and deposited them on the ground by suddenly opening the box-like seat. Apparently, the dust allowed them to float briefly in the air until their feet gently touched the ground.

Now, everyone was trying their luck at some game stalls. After gaining a few 'fantastic-to-Misery' toasters, Poe, strangely, wanted to try out the 'Bumper Cars'.

And Poe did not regret his decision this time. They had a whale of a time ramming their own and other cars silly. Having emerged from the vehicles feeling slightly dizzy, everyone wanted to take a break. It was a relief for them to slake their thirst with icy cold drinks. They even met up with Scaredy, who was waitung for Doom to finish her manicure.

As Skull Boy slurped noisily from his straw, he heard a familiar tune.

"Hey, is that...?"

"YEAH, YEAH, YEAH! It's a ding a ding do, singing with you!" Someone sang on stage.

"Skelly-T!" Skull Boy grinned.

"Sup', cats," Skelly-T greeted the girls with the clicking of his teeth, causing the girls to grin (with the exception of Misery, of course)

"Dogs...," He high-fived all the males until he reached Poe,

"And... crow...," He finally said as he shook Poe's hand.

Poe was not amused as Skelly-T went into an 'explanation' of why he excluded Poe from the term 'dogs'. Since Poe had claimed to be a gentleman and 'dogs' was only used for rowdy, lively boys, he had no idea what to call Poe. Before he could elaborate further, Poe's annoyed stare silenced him. After clearing his throat a couple of times, he finally said,

"What's shaking the house tonight?"

"Er... we're here to cover Catastrophe for our school's newspapers, if that's what you're asking." Skull Boy hesitated. He was so busy speaking in Czech, that he had forgotten some of the slang Skelly-T had taught him. He better brush up on it later.

"And we just found out about a competition!"

"Oh, you guys are yada-yadaing about that? Me and my crew were thinking of joining it, it's been bone years since we've joined one."

"Well, this is our first!" Frank admitted.

Suddenly, Ruby's eyes widened and everyone could practically see a lit candle above her that suddenly extinguished when she coughed,

"That's it! Why don't you guys➖cough➖ join the completion together as one band. Think about it, rock and jazz. The guitar and the saxophone." She snapped her fingers. At that, Scaredy Bat had a look of pure horror on his cute face (SO CUTE!) while Skelly-T's skull was painted with a grinning mien.

"Wow! Then we can write a song that's off the rib!" The jazz-loving skeleton exclaimed.

"Actually..." Scared Bat started but Frank yelled,

"Great! We can work in the music room! We reserved it for practice!"

"Well... about that..." The bat could only yelp when Frank and Len grabbed him and dashed out of the restaurant, strumming their guitar with Skelly-T and his crew marching behind them and playing good-old jazz.

For some reason, it didn't really mix.

* * *

While Skelly-T and RIP were 'working' on their song, the others visited the indoor station, which was within the hotel complex. They nearly got lost as they made their way about the numerous passages. When they finally found the place, a noise like a roaring waterfall hit them. Scores of arcade machines were being operated by eager young people. Amongst the flashing lights and electronic sounds, they made their way to a queue forming beside the entrance to a room. The sign outside proclaimed,

"Journey to the world- a thrilling experience!"

After a five-minute wait, Iris' 'patience' was wearing thin and her itchy feet couldn't stand the pain any longer. They were still at the 'tail' of the 'dragon'. Nobody else wanted to try out the ride, seeing how long the queue was.

"Oh! That's it! I'm gonna try the boat ride, this is taking forever!" Iris grumbled as she zoomed to the river with a graham cracker boat. Misery shrugged and was about to follow her when Ruby suddenly stopped her.

"Misery, I need your help... regarding your book."

"Eh, that didn't get much likes. The most positive review was some guy. He gave it half a star." Misery sighed until Ruby showed her the book.

"Still, I need to know how NOT to look sick. If I do, I can't go on the rides, because either the attendants won't let me or Skull Boy will just send me straight to the hotel and if I don't go on the rides, I can't review. And if I don't review... er... you get the drift."

"Hmm... I dunno about this... but I guess if you really need to..."

"I really need to..." Ruby clasped her hands together, as though she was praying.

After knotting her eyebrows together in contemplation, Misery gave in,

"Ok, but first, make-over." She declared dramatically, suddenly conjuring up a compact disk.

* * *

RIP and the skeletal crew were now in the private music room reserved by Frank and Len just for them to work on, as Skelly-T said, their 'shaking and souls'. It was on the same floor as the boys' room, making everything convenient. The lead skeleton singer was seated on a bench in front of a beautiful, polished grand piano. The lights make the glossy surface flash and shimmer while his band mates sprawled on the long mocha couches, surrounding the piano. Guitars lined the walls, along with a few other instruments like violas and trumpets.

Leaning against the blood red walls, Frank asked,

"So, what should we start with?"

"Ooh! How about for the bread, the golds?" The skeleton tuba-player suggested rather enthusiastically.

A second (and a confused blink) later, Skelly-T translated for them,

"We begin the song with a tuba-solo."

A chorus of understanding 'ohs' resounded.

"Ok, tubas for intro, check!" Len noted in his notebook. Frank tried not to sigh when he noticed that Len had decorated the leather book with cat stickers. So he contributed by saying,

"Then we get the drum solo!"

Finally, Scaredy, who was outside the music, sweating buckets, had stopped shaking and wiped himself with the towel. Hey, he was nervous about the idea before but now that they mentioned his favorite instrument...


End file.
